Tuesday, April 19, 2011

The RunAway

We were invited to a fun costume party this past weekend. Tara (pictured above with little Claire) wanted to throw her husband Joe a welcome home party, but she was creative enough to celebrate all of the missed holidays. Decorations were a mix of Christmas trees, fourth of July stars, & valentine plates. Everyone dressed in their Halloween costumes, and we all brought a Thanksgiving dish. We toasted to champagne for missed anniversaries & dessert was birthday cake. I've probably missed a holiday or two in there, but it was a great time!
Riley & Joe shooting off 4th of July tanks for the kids. Notice Riley's costume? ha ha. We thought it best to duck tape over David's man-parts.
Saedi enjoying Emmy's piggy costume for one-last party! I love the wear her little piggy buns stick out!
The kids cheering for more fireworks!
Mr. Trey changing the princesses slipper.
And that concludes our fun, holiday party. However, when we arrived home at approx 7:00 that evening we noticed that Jack was missing. Unbeknownest to us the underground fence was off and he was gone. Riley scoured the woods. I got the kids in jammies and then loaded them in the van and stuck in a movie. I roamed the neighborhood stopping at random houses that I knew had dogs asking if they had seen "this dog." Riley didn't find Jack in the woods so he ran through the neighborhood on foot calling him. Friends offered to come help but there wasn't much else to do but to hang signs. Finally, one of the last houses I knocked on had seen Jack. She said a man and little girl came by around 6 with him on a leash asking if he belonged to her. She pointed us to the house they returned to, but no one was home. So, we hung signs and went to bed. In the morning as were heading out the door for church we got a call they someone had Jack. Riley went to pick him up, and the stories began!...

"Oh what a good dog he is! We didn't have any dog food so we went out and bought some for him. Then he slept at the foot of our bed like a good dog. At 4 I woke up to him staring me in the face cause he needed to be let out. What a great dog."

"We didn't know his name and our granddaughter thought he was the color of a donut so she named him "donut."

Those neighbors had taken such good care of Jack-er. Riley didn't have the heart to tell them that we don't even let him sleep at the foot of our bed! He returned to us fat and happy like he was king of the world. That rascal! Needless to say, the girls are thrilled to have their dog back. And his new name is Jack Donut Post.

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Friday, April 15, 2011

Lots o' Guests

We've been hosting a lot of guests lately. This birds nest full of sweet little eggs were the first to arrive. I love Spring, love our yard, love our deck, and I love entertaining. We put off grilling as long as possible hoping the eggs would have time to hatch, but that was not the case. We moved the nest onto a box on the deck, knowing that more than likely the Mommy would not come back. Needless to say, we think Jack got the eggs.

Our next set of friends to come over were the Q-Course Crew. Once we realized the Peters were set to move immediately we threw together a party within 24 hours. These guys graduated from the course together at Ft Bragg 4 years ago, and while we couldn't stay with all of our friends from that era we were blessed enough to get stationed with these friends here at Ft Campbell. Definitely going to be bitter-sweet when we all go our separate ways in just a few weeks:
Trey: staying at Ft Campbell; Chuck: Dubai; Riley: West Point, NY, Dave: Monterey, CA
Of course, it would only be expected that Mr. Trey would be the 1st to let Isaac suck on the beer bottle

Enjoying perfect Spring weather on the deck
Tindolls, Peters, Kenneys, Posts

And The Toths came over for a last-minute get-together, which really are my favorite kind. Less planning equals less stress! They came over to borrow our Camry for a few weeks and we ended up feasting on pizza, roasting marshmallows over the campfire, and chatting til almost 10 o'clock, which is pretty much unheard of given our crew of 7 kiddos. The Toth's take off for Monterey, CA soon, so it was nice to have them to ourselves one last time!
Gideon, Kristen, Isaac, Evelyn, Kevin, Joshua, Saedi, Ellie, Caleb, Riley
Best Friends, Ellie & Caleb. Ellie's already asking how far away New York & California are from each other.
Kevin with his 3 boys
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Monday, April 11, 2011

Weekend at Phila's

Daddy's with all the kiddos exploring the creek
Isaac (almost 8 mo & Jeremiah 61/2 mo)
Jesse with Brooke (4y), Ellie (5y), Saedi (3y) & Meadow (3y)


Saedi, Brooke, Meadow & Ellie on their be-loved bridge
For the past year or two my friend Meghan has been telling me about an amazing Bed and Breakfast getaway run by Phila Hach. (Just google Phila Hach and you can read about her impressive credentials) A few weeks ago Natalie and I went to check it out on a random trip to Nashville. We were beyond impressed with Phila and her place, so we booked a two-night stay to give our families one last vacation together before Jesse deploys and before we move.

Meadow proud of her catch
I couldn't have asked for a more relaxing family vacation. It was 80's and sunny the entire time. The kids entertained themselves by picking flowers, catching minnows in the creek, and exploring the 3-story farmhouse. We went on walks, had a campfire, slept with the windows open, drank coffee on the balcony, and simply enjoyed being together. Even Jack came along and was in heaven. With Riley just getting home we wanted family time but we knew this was the only time for he and Jesse to spend time together...one last time. And we've always had a blast vacationing with the Moons. It really worked out great. Natalie even brought her kettlebell so we could do a workout together.
Ellie & Meadow, the fireballs. Saedi & Brookey, the tender-hearts.
Isaac (almost 8mo) and Mommy (30y)
Michelle (30y), Isaac (8mo), Riley (31), Saedi (3), Ellie (5), Jack (1)
Brooke (4), Natalie, Jeremiah (6.4mo), Jesse, Meadow (3)
Natalie & Jeremiah
View of old tobacco barn from our cabin. Phila uses this to host parties, etc.


Riley & Jack
Isaac & Jeremiah, 6 weeks apart
Saedi & Meadow, 4 weeks apart
Brooke & Ellie, 9 months apart
Daddy & Isaac
Mr. Jesse exploring water creatures with the girls
Riley with the kiddos & grilling dinner...very impressive!
Natalie discovered these quilt coats and we couldn't resist modeling them
Best Friends

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Thursday, April 7, 2011

Tea Parties, Annie Oakley, & Fishing

Within the first few hours of Daddy being home, the girls wanted to host a tea party for him.
Presents from Daddy! Ellie received a pink Red Ryder BB Gun & Saedi got her very own tackle box with fake worms to organize!
Shooting Glasses
The set-up. Ellie got a balloon on first shot!

Good old trampoline how we love you! Daddy let Jack on it too.
Mommy got an ingrown toenail cut out yesterday and is gimped up on the couch so Daddy took the girls for the afternoon. Saedi finally got to use her fishing pole, which was a birthday present from Mimi & Papa (back in January)
El & her fishy
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Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Daddy's Home!

Ellie(5y), Saedi(3y), Isaac(7.5m) Waiting for that plane!
It's coming! Let's bundle up!
The plane landed and the kids began jumping up and down chanting, "Daddy! Daddy!" but changed to "Daddy's ! Daddy's" as they were excited for their friends, too! The Post girls were quickly spotted and heard by Daddy on the plane because of their long blonde hair and chanting!
Here they come!
First hugs...a heavy load with a big ruck on back plus 8 months of girlie growth!
Ellie, always a Daddy's girl, is happy to have her best friend home!
Little Saed-Saed warming up and investigating


First family pics...still in raincoats and poor Isaac exhausted
Our best family pic...too bad my eyes are closed
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